Never mind that both Reagan and Bush created massive, massive, massive deficits. Ignore that! Bush came into office with a huge government SURPLUS and now we have a massive, massive, massive DEFICIT! But the right-wingers say it just isn't there in front of your eyes.

We now pay over $300 billion a year - to the rich - just for interest on the massive, massive, massive Reagan and Bush debt.

Posted by Dave Johnson at May 5, 2006 2:04 PM

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It's amazing that Clinton was able to reverse the Reagan deficits so rapidly, build a surplus, and start paying down the national debt. And just look where we are now. The huge Reagan deficit was blamed on the "tax and spend" Democrats. Remember that? So are these the "tax and spend" Republicans, or the "don't tax and spend like crazy" Republicans?

For those who remember, Reagan "simplified" taxes, creating a floor of 7.5% of AGI before healthcare costs are deductible, making consumer interest no longer deductible, but maintaining the deductibility of home interest so consumer debt flowed from unsecure accounts to where the homeowner was mining his equity, and other little adjustments that hit the middle class in the pocketbook. Before Reagan, not only were more consumer related expenses tax deductible but there was a base amount of dividends which was not taxed until it exceeded $2,000.
People vote against their own self interests. The middle class' love affair with Ronald Reagan proves it.
With $3 gas, any bets that the oil companies won't get to keep the tax breaks to encourage development and research?

Posted by: entlord at May 7, 2006 1:02 PM

Leaving out crucial information is a common propaganda tactic. For example,
Popular Mechanics wrote:

FACT: In the decade before 9/11, NORAD
intercepted only one civilian plane over North
America: golfer Payne Stewart's Learjet, in
October 1999. With passengers and crew
unconscious from cabin decompression, the
plane lost radio contact but remained in
transponder contact until it crashed. Even so,
it took an F-16 1 hour and 22 minutes to reach
the stricken jet.

They omitted the crucial information that military F-15s had been next to the
Learjet almost from the time it lost contact in Florida. The F-15s handed it over in Missouri to F-16s from North Dakota.